Feb 17, 2021 | Corner, DIY Crafts, DIY Holiday Crafts, DIY Projects, Valentine's Day
Dice games always seem to be a hit with kiddos, no matter their age. Add in some play dough and flowers, and this spring math game for kids is sure to a crowd pleaser.
A colorful math game for kids to welcome spring
Materials
Terra cotta pots
Play dough
Fake flowers
Dice
1. Give each player a terra cotta pot and some play dough to act as a base for the flowers.
2. Hand out flowers to each player, ensuring that everyone has the same amount. We started with 12 each.
3. Player one rolls his die, then adds the appropriate number of flowers to his flower pot.
4. Player two does the same, rolling her die and adding flowers to her ceramic pot.
5. Play continues until one person has “planted” all of her flowers.
6. Challenge each other to another game, or just have fun creating with the play dough and flowers!
Other Ways to Play
There are so many ways to change up how this game is set up and played! Here are just a few ideas:
- Have each player use two dice instead of one. This would allow the kiddos to work on their addition skills.
- Incorporate a scented oil (lavender or rose) to the play dough for a different sensory experience.
- Knead seeds into the dough for a different texture.
- Play with real flowers instead of fake.
- Create number cards to use instead of dice. This would let the kids work on their numeral recognition and one-to-one correspondence skills in a different way.
Learning with a flower math game for kids
This is a very simple game, but so much learning can take place with “simple” activities! Here are a few game and math skills touched on:
- Pattern recognition
- Counting
- Turn taking
- One-to-one correspondence
- Fine motor skills
- Sportsmanship
Do you have another math game for kids to recommend? Any favorites that you play at home or at school?
Feb 12, 2021 | Corner, DIY Crafts, DIY Holiday Crafts, Valentine's Day
I have always loved Valentine’s Day. Maybe it’s because my middle name is literally Valentine (Yes, Laura Valentine Gummerman. It’s on my driver’s license, I swear!), but I think it’s also because of all the sweets and shades of pink that float around this time of year. I’m a total sucker for it. I’ve had a lot of fun doing decorations for intimate Valentine’s Day dinners in years past, and this year I thought it would be fun to make some hanging decor to hang over our pink breakfast nook table. I love to use the inexpensive faux flowers from dollar stores to make a block of texture, and I thought they would be the perfect choice for a large floating heart above the table.
Supplies:
-faux flowers (I used about 12 bunches total. Pick the big ones—they’ll fill the heart faster!)
-hot glue gun
-sheets of styrofoam
-serrated bread knife/electric turkey carver/jig saw to cut the styrofoam
–cup hooks
-clear fishing line
-command hooks
-balsa wood
-glitter paper
First you’ll want to trace your heart onto your styrofoam. If you don’t feel confident to do this freehand, you can always sketch it out on a large piece of craft paper first and then trace it onto the styrofoam. You can see that in order to fit the size of heart I wanted, I had to cut off a corner of one piece and glue it onto the bottom to fit the tail of the heart. Use your hot glue gun to attach the pieces of styrofoam together to make one solid shape.
Next, use a serrated bread knife, electric turkey carver, or a jig saw to cut out your shape from the styrofoam. If you go the bread knife route, you may want to wait to glue the pieces together until after you cut them since it’s a little rougher on the material. The jig saw cut through the styrofoam like a hot knife through butter, which is another reason I keep telling you guys you should get one!!!!
You can also cover the sides with flowers if you want to, but you’ll want to buy smaller varieties in the same color so they don’t stick way over the sides and make your shape definition a little mushy.
I made an arrow and arrow tail out of balsa wood, and then cut pieces of glitter paper the same size and hot glued them all together.
To hang the heart, I glued a cup hook into the top of each of the heart “humps” and stuck 2 command hooks onto the ceiling where I wanted the heart to hang (about the same distance apart that the cup hooks are). Then I tied the heart to the hooks with fishing wire for an “invisible” look.
Once the heart was hanging, I stuck each half of the arrow in opposite ends of the heart, and my work was done!
I LOVE how this turned out! It’s such a big statement piece, and since they are faux flowers, you can leave it up as long as you like or even save it for next year. This would also be really cute as a photo booth backdrop for a Valentine’s Day party. Hope you find an occasion to make this pretty project! I totally won’t blame you if the 14th comes and goes and you just “forget” to take this one down…
Feb 8, 2021 | Corner, DIY Crafts, DIY Holiday Crafts, FREE Printables, Valentine's Day
I know I said that we’d be focusing solely on our Becoming interviews this month but I just can’t let my second favorite holiday go by without any project ideas for you. SO! Our first Valentine’s Day project is up! And it’s very knotty…Ba dum, ching! The older I get, the more I get into projects that require little brain power and friendship bracelets are just that–a perfect TV project, no?! Today we’re providing you with adorable printable Valentine to go with a friendship bracelet (stay tuned for our heart friendship bracelet tutorial!). Our Warhol-inspired cards read “Threaded together” and “You always come in handy, friend”. Because Valentine’s Day isn’t just for lovers! And stay tuned later today for a big announcement! (hint: love is in the air).
Friendship Bracelet Printable
DIY Birthday Flag Ribbon Cake Topper
- Threaded together (white background)
- You always come in handy, friend (pink background)
Notes:
The cards are 5×7″. We like to print them on cardstock so they are nice and heavy. If you’d like to find envelopes, you can use size A7 (5 1/4″ x 7 1/4″)
Here are some envelope suggestions:
- Pastel pink envelopes
- Red envelopes
- Hot pink envelopes
Feb 5, 2021 | Corner, DIY Holiday Crafts, DIY Projects, FREE Printables, Valentine's Day
Except for Christmas, I don’t change the house the decor at each holiday. But it’s nice to add a little detail here or there, like a printable or a small item.
Looking for more paper crafts ideas? You will find all the tutorials featured in this video on my “Best off” page
This year to celebrate Valentine’s day I made a heart marquee sign. As it’s made with paper and cardboard it’s quite simple to realize. For now it stands on the shelve in my office but I think I will move it in the living room so we can all enjoy a pretty heart-shaped lighting!
How to make a heart marquee sign
Material you will need :
- white cardboard
- a thick color paper
- LED cord-light with 20 lights
- Scissors
- cutter
- Ruler
- Pencil
- A glue gun or silicone glue
- The free template, which you can download HERE
You first need to download and print the PDF heart template. It comes in two parts, so cut along the dotted line and glue both sheets of paper together with some tape.
Report the heart shape and the small circles on the cardboard. Cut the cardboard, if you wonder, the little circles mark the place of every LED light. So you need to cut them out too. Take a sheet of colored paper and cut two strips of 2 inches width by 18 inches long. I choose a violet shade but feel free to pick the tone you like.
You will use the paper strips to make the edges of the marquee sign. Glue the paper on the edge of the cardboard, starting from the heart tip.
Apply very little glue at the time to prevent the glue from overflowing. If some area requires more glue you can add an extra dot on the backside. I worked with a glue gun, but silicone glue is also a good option.
Once the first strip is glued, continue with the second one. Before gluing you can trace a line lengthwise to mark the strip center, so you just have to apply the glue on the line and you will be sure the strips are glued straight.
Once all the edge is covered with the paper, you can trim the extra length if necessary.
Cut 2 more strips to cover the inside edge of the heart. You have to do the same to cover the heart center.
Take off the little bulbs from the LED lights and push them into the cardboard holes then, from the back of the marquee sign, put back the LED into the bulbs.
Light the cord and DONE! Enjoy you lovely Marquee Sign! It’s a nice Valentine’s day detail that you may what to keep around even passed February! The cord-light I used work on battery so I hid the box behind the books…just in case you wonder!
Feb 3, 2021 | Corner, DIY Crafts, DIY Holiday Crafts, Valentine's Day
Have you ever made a paper origami heart? It is so simple and downright satisfying once you have the technique down. I ended up whipping up 10 of these pretty paper hearts to make a Valentine’s Day bouquet. I love the idea of giving a non-traditional paper flower bouquet as a gift.
Supplies for Simple Origami Heart Bouquet
- Origami paper
- 20 gauge florist wire
- Wire cutters
- Scotch tape
- Faux greenery
- Florist foam
- Vase
How to Make Paper Origami Flowers
Step 1: Make around 10 paper origami hearts with a variety of pink, purple, and red origami paper. Rather than me showing you the steps over a ton of different photos. It moves you through the heart step-by-step process slowly so you quickly pick up the technique and can easily replicate it to make more flowers. Warning, making these simple hearts can be addicting! Check out how you can even fold a dollar bill into a heart.
I especially love that this video was created by a young boy named Evan over 10 years ago, and he is still making origami tutorial videos as an adult on his channel EZOrigami. Talk about passion for your craft. Check it out!
Step 2. Each heart will contain a little pocket opening in the back. This is where you will insert the flower stem.
Step 3: Cut a piece of florist wire in half with wire cutters. Poke the wire into the backside opening of the heart and through the base of the heart. Secure the top of the stem to the back of the heart with a small piece of tape.
Continue making more flowers. You can vary the length of the florist wire to give the flowers different heights in the arrangement if you want.
Step 4: Add a piece of florist foam to the base of a vase. If you like this painted mason jar vase, be sure to check out my simple tutorial on how to paint the inside of a vase!
Step 5: Fill the vase with the flowers and some faux greenery. You’re done!
Nov 27, 2020 | 4th of July, Adult Parties & Events, Bridal and Baby Showers, Christmas, DIY Boys Party, DIY Girls Party, Family Activities & Events, Father's Day, Halloween, Mother's Day, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, Weddings
If you’re going to be having a party, then you may want to make sure that you’re getting the most out of it. The most important thing is that everyone is going to be able to enjoy themselves, and that’s why you’ve got to think long and hard about some ideas to make your party great. In this article, we’re going to be taking a look at what some of these ideas are, so keep reading if you would like to find out more.
Go Do Something Childish
The first thing that we are going to suggest is that you go and do something childish. It’s hard being an adult, and it’s exhausting. It’s for this reason that sometimes we just want to take a step back and do something fun, maybe even a little bit childish. For example, you could all dress up as characters from a film or TV show and have a fancy dress party. Or, you could head out and go bowling, go to a laser quest center, or whatever else you think you might enjoy. The point is for it to be as fun as possible, so something that you used to enjoy when you were a child might be a good idea. Think about the things that you used to love to do, and then choose one for your party.
Hire A Bar
Another thing that we are going to suggest is that you hire a bar. Not everyone drinks alcohol, it’s true, but for those who do, this is going to make the party that little bit better. A company like Party Pony Trailers LLC may be able to help you out here as they have mobile bars! This means that if you want the party to be at your home, but you also want a bar, then something like this is the perfect solution!
Or, you could simply just have alcohol on the table and allow everyone to mix their own drinks. At least you can be sure they’re going to like what they make for themselves!
Game Night
Finally, have you thought about having a game night? Everyone can get involved, and it can be a super fun idea. Choose a bunch of different games that everyone can play together, and then let the fun begin. Ensure that all the games you’ve got are suitable for the amount of players that you are going to have so that nobody ends up left out. Get some snacks, a few drinks, and this could be the perfect night in for you and your friends. It might not be the same as having an actual party, but it’s just as fun for a small gathering!
We hope that you have found this article helpful and now know some of the fun ideas that we’ve got for an all-adult party. These ideas don’t make up an extensive list, so there are plenty more things that you can do if you would like to. Hopefully, you have a great time, and so does everyone else involved.
